Novato Supervisor Judy Arnold will seek re-election to her fourth term in June 2018.

“I am asking you to renew my service for another term so that we can continue working together to make Novato and the county an even better place,” said Arnold, flanked by a group of more than a dozen friends and supporters, including Novato councilmen Josh Fryday and Eric Lucan, during an announcement last week.

“There is still much work to do,” she said.

Supervisor Damon Connolly, whose term also ends in 2018, has not stated his intentions.

Why is Arnold announcing her candidacy for an election eight months away?

“Why not?” said Arnold’s political consultant, Paul Cohen. “Some people like to play games and be coy. I’ve never seen the point in that. She’s the incumbent. She’s got a lot of accomplishments and work left to do.”

Brian Sobel, a Petaluma-based political analyst, said, “Incumbents often do this as a show of strength. They want people who may be thinking of running to know that they are way out in front in terms of campaign fundraising and endorsements.

“It basically signals to anybody who wants to compete that taking on this person is going to be a formidable challenge,” Sobel said.

As of June 30, Arnold’s 2018 election campaign had raised more than $62,000 and had a cash balance of about $37,000.

The 5th District, which Arnold represents, includes most of the city of Novato and the unincorporated areas of Bel Marin Keys, Loma Verde, Black Point, Green Point and Indian Valley.

David McCuan, a Sonoma State University associate professor of political science, said, “Given the surliness of voters, long-time incumbents are also keen to communicate their accomplishments and goals moving forward as well.”

Among the list of accomplishments that Arnold highlighted during last week’s announcement was the adoption of Assembly Bill 1537, which for purposes of state housing law changed the designation of Marin County, San Rafael and Novato from metropolitan to suburban.

The change was significant because one way for jurisdictions to demonstrate they are meeting a state requirement for zoning for low- and very-low-income housing is to use what is known as the state’s “default” density number.

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For metropolitan jurisdictions, the default density is 30 units per acre. For suburban jurisdictions, the default density is 20 units per acre.

Earlier this year, another assembly bill authored by Assemblyman Levine extended the suburban designation until 2028. Affordable housing developers said the change would make it more difficult to build affordable housing in Marin at a time when the entire state is facing a severe shortage of affordable housing.

Arnold was first elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 2006, defeating her closest challenger, Novato Councilwoman Pat Eklund, by 921 votes, about 7 percent of the vote. She ran unopposed in 2010.

In 2014, however, Arnold’s margin of victory was just 215 votes, less than 2 percent of the vote, over Toni Shroyer. Shroyer, an agent with Bradley Real Estate, had been a vocal critic of Plan Bay Area, a regionwide effort to address climate change by encouraging new housing growth along existing transportation corridors.

Asked if she has any interest in running again in 2018, Shroyer said Wednesday, “I have nothing to say at this time.”

Eklund, who is running for re-election to the Novato City Council in November, said she has no interest in challenging Arnold in 2018.

Arnold, who got her start in politics as an aide to former Marin County supervisor Gary Giacomini before going on to work for former state senators John Burton and Carole Migden, is 77. That is the same age as Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and seven years younger than Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco, who is 84.

While some have questioned whether Feinstein should seek another six-year term next year, Sobel doesn’t see age as an issue for Arnold.

“She’s got tremendous energy. She is very much on her game,” Sobel said. “So for somebody like Judy, age is just a number.”

“There is a tremendous number of politicians across this country who are in their 70s and 80s, many of them serve in Congress and the Senate,” Sobel said. “Seventy now is sort of the new 50.”